Villilä estates’ history goes all the way back to the late middle-ages, most likely to the 1450s, when the inhabitants of Villiö village in Kokemäki established a croft on the lands of the present-day estate. At the beginning of the 17th century the whole village of Villilä was combined into one large estate. In 1638 the estate was given to the provincial governor of Savonlinna, Mikael von Jordan, as compensation for other land areas. Von Jordan’s heirs ruled Villilä until the year 1788, when the sons of Juhana Henrik von Jordan sold the estate to dean of Kokemäki, Gustav Avellan. The Avellan –family lived in Villilä for the next 100 years, during which time the estate gained its new empire-style main building.
In 1888, after laamanni Kaarle Fredrik Avellan passed away, his heirs sold the estate to Frans Stefanus Pohjola, who was married to Maria, the daughter of the owner of the Yyteri-estate. Their daughter Emma and her husband maisteri Edvard Grönlund gained ownership of the Villilä- estate in 1909. During their time in Villilä 20 independent crofts and 12 settlements were separated from the estates lands. Never the less, in the early 1930s the lands of Villilä- estate still covered over one thousand hectares, of which 632 hectares were forest. Edvin Grönlund was also as the headmaster of the livestock rearing institute, which started operating in Villilä in 1905. After the death of Edvard Grönlund, his widow Emma Grönlund continued to take care of the estate with the help of her son Lauri, until her death in 1969.
After the war, the lands of Villilä were reduced considerably. In 1971 when the community of Nakkila gained ownership of Villilä, only 380 hectares of the Villilä- estate land area was included in the agreement. In 1976 the community of Nakkila sold the estate and the 14 hectare land area directly linked to the estate, to Arvi Kiviojas’ company Nakkilan Konepaja Ltd. The community of Nakkila regained the ownership of Villilä- estate and its 14 hectare land area in 2002.
Infrastructure of the Villilä- estate
The U-shaped empire-style main building was constructed in 1852….. It is a two storey building that boasts 17 rooms.
Aside from the main building, a huge red brick cow-shed, a stable for 30 horses, a henhouse and a dormitory building, originally built for the Livestock Rearing institute, are situated in the Villilä- estate grounds. In addition to these; on the north-west side of the courtyard, at the end of an old birch-lane, stands a grain stock house and a drying house.
The huge cow-shed was built it 1864 and it has been thoroughly renovated in 1927. It measures up to 60 meters in length and it’s over 21 meters wide, resulting in a total area of 1300m2. The stable building is 38 meters long and 12 meters wide.
